Really?
Some 13 million viewers tuned in last night to the debut of "The Simple Life," starring hotel heiress and star of a recently released sex tape Paris Hilton and her pal (and Lionel Ritchie daughter) Nicole Ritchie. More people watched the first episode of this show than watched the first episode of this year's The Bachelor and Average Joe, by a combined total of 2.5 million people. I know it's only television, but that's alot of people who want to watch sexy dames live like poor peoople. I guess people's interests were piqued because of the whole sex tape thing. Just when I thought so-called reality televison was hitting the skids, this is bad news.

Not to be outdone, NBC will be bringing a new reality series in I think January where people will compete to win a six figure job from Donald Trump. There's nothing I'd rather watch more than uber-ambitious preppies fighting for fame and fortune at the feet of The Donald. Okay, maybe the Paris Hilton sex tape.

Tony

Sveiks!
Hey Draper, you know that car in your alley with the bumper sticker that says 'SVEIKS!'? Well, thanks to the magic of Google, I found out what it meant. It means 'welcome' in Latvian. So know we know - and knowing is half the battle.

Marc

Evers Burns In Mobtown
Hey, the guy who runs the Terrapins stats site emailed me to say that Evers Burns coaches basketball at Howard County Community College.

That means that Evers himself will be in town December 17th, coaching the HCCC Dragons against Baltimore City Community College. Who's going with me? I want to get something autographed!

Marc

I would have expected more from South Africa
Tiger Woods is very angry over the details of his engagement having been leaked by the owner of the South African game preserve where Tiger vacationed after the President's Cup in South Africa. I understand he wants privacy, and he's probably entitled to it, but let's not seem so shocked, shall we. What did Tiger expect of a small-time South African huckster? Maybe I'm being a litle hard on Tiger, but I have a hard time feeling sorry for him. For staters, I don't know where to begin. Should I feel sorry because he's about to marry a superfoxy Swedish model, or because he has millions upon millions of dollars that he can never spend, or because he's at the top of his profession and has millions of undying fans? Now that's a noodle scratcher.

Tony

The Next Kathy Lee
Here is Elisabeth Hasselbeck, wife of the current Redskins starting QB. She is most famous for her appearance on the second season of Survivor, but has many other "accomplishments":

Prior to her work on television, Ms. Hasselbeck designed shoes for PUMA, working on their street lifestyle design, while living in Boston. She does not stray far from the world of industrial design and fills her time painting, designing note cards and personalized planners, running, as well as relaxing with her husband, family and friends.

Ms. Hasselbeck grew up in Providence, Rhode Island. She dedicated the winter of 1997 in Belize to teaching children in the rain-forest, and spent three weeks in Italy in 2000 developing her designs to completion.

Marc

Sometimes, I Wish I Had Cable
The Terps took out 15th-ranked Wisconsin in OT last night. This looked a lot like Joe Smith's breakout game against Georgetown in his freshman year - a big early season win from a team nobody expected much of. Unfortunately, Jamal Smith is a senior. Smith (Jamal) had 25 points and 12 boards, and is averaging a double-double on the season.

Marc

Addendum: I just spent some time walking down Terps b-ball memory lane here. Man, did I hate Chris Kerwin.

We Three Jerks Exclusive!
Stills from the second Paris Hilton sex tape! My sources say it reveals the horny heiress' ailurophilia and kinky tree fetish, in the now-familiar night-vision setting. Paris' feline co-star is reportedly in talks with the WB network to host a sexy new reality show tentatively titled "Puss N Booty".

Oh, wait, that's my cat under the Christmas tree. Ah, well.

Marc

Brrrr...
Hey Draper, Liz pointed out something funny: On your page, the ads at the top are all for heating pads and such, because you write so much about being cold. Tell Joe we missed him at the Senator last night. ZUZU'S PETALS!

Marc

Back to the ol' Salt Mine
I had a steel tariff post all set until I read Marc's. Scooped again. However, I do have some news regarding plans in East Baltimore to raize an entire neighborhood in order to clear space for biotech industries. I think the plan's risky, and the benefits are far from guaranteed, but I think it might just work out. Although I'm generally pessimistic about massive economic overhauls with long odds, East Baltimore has been in dire straits for some time, and all other conventional means of help have failed. This plan is a tall order to fill, and if it's a failure it will not only hurt the city and its residents, but O'Malley's political future as well. I think it bodes well for O'Malley that he's taking on such a project when he's preparing to launch a gubernatorial bid in the not-to-distant future. After all, if he just ignored the problems of East Baltimore a little longer he could have run for governor and nobody would have accussed him of failing East Baltimore, because nobody expects action. As a citizen of Baltimore and a political observer, I take O'Malley's action as a sign of his confidence in the idea and his committment to try to figure out ways to help the city, even when nobody expects him to.

Okay, it's Monday. You know what that means. Norman Chad, baby. This week he breaks down all the NFL coaches on the chopping block. And speaking of sports, I've been unable to determine whether Annika played from the Men's tee or not during the Skins game. The WashPost article I've linked too doesn't make it clear. I'm going to search for it later, and possibly write a question to PTI, but if anybody finds real proof either way, post it.

Finally, because Sundays help me get through the week, I've checked the upcoming football schedule. My prediction is that we'll get the Ravens and Bengals at one on CBS, and if we get a FOX one o'clock it could be Skins and Giants OR Dallas and Phila. At four o'clock, if CBS gives us a 4 we could get Jets - Bills, OR KC - Denver, OR Miami - New England. If, as I expect, CBS does a Ravens post game show, then we'll get the only 4 o'clock that FOX will offer: Arizona and the 49ers.

Tony

P.S. I saw It's a Wonderful Life at the Senator last night. It was one of the better movie-going experiences I've had. It really was something to experience the movie with a theater full of people instead a living room full of family. The movie was certainly funnier, and probably a little more heartwarming than it usually is. Also, Donna Reed was a stone-cold fox.

TMQ Returns
And I didn't even realize it. It's on NFL.com here. I don't know if this is the permanent address or what. Enjoy.

Marc

Issue #3: What Did You Have For Breakfast?
WRONG! You all had Special K with banana.

From the Post via Instapundit:
Bush has decided to repeal the steel tariffs. Huzzah! The Post speculates that this will hurt him in steel producing states like Pennsyltucky and West by God Virginia, but help in Michigan, where auto manufacturers use steel. Hopefully W learns a lesson from this one.

Also from the Post via Kausfiles:
Kerry and Lieberman were the only two Senators not to vote on the prescription drug benefit. What a couple of weenies! As Kaus points out, the whole reason Kerry telecommuted to the Des Moines debate was so that he could vote on the damn bill. This reminds me of all the "abstains" from SGA - except these guys want to be president, where you might have to make a few tough choices.

Also, a shout out to Senators Lott, Sununu, Nickles, and McCain for voting against this geriatric welfare scheme. And further praise to John McCain (oh, how it pains me to say that) for calling attention to this administration's "spending like a drunken sailor" on Fox News Sunday.

Marc

I may make a map of this
About a week ago Marc and I discussed NFL teams who have their script logo right below the NFL shield in thier jerseys. Well, in either a testament to how much I screw around at work, or an example of how dedicated I am to solving the great mysteries of life, I've compiled a list.

The breakdown is almost 50-50. In fact, there are 15 teams that wear their script log below the shield, and 17 teams that do not. There's really nothing to be inferred from this data; no great wisdom or insight about the NFL can be gained by knowing this. It is, simply and purely, trivial. But that's why you love me.

Teams with script logo:
Redskins, Eagles, Rams, Giants, Buccaneers, Dolphins, Broncos, Titans, Falcons, Ravens, Seahawks, Browns, Patriots, Lions, and Texans.

Teams without script logo:
Bills, Chargers, Bengals, Bears, Cardinals, Chiefs, Raiders, Saints, Jets, Jaguars, Vikings, Panthers, Cowboys, Steelers, Colts, Packers, 49ers.

The lists have some surprises. For example, newly formed franchises Jax and Carolina have gone script-less, while long-standing teams Browns, Lions and Redskins have gone with the script. The only thing I think I can say about this data is just that, for the most part, teams with new or recently revamped uni's go for the script as a nod toward modernism (i.e. Eagles, Broncos, Falcons, Seahawks), but not always (i.e. 49ers, Bills).

Now, I know what you're saying. How does this data break down in terms of division? I'm one step ahead of you.

AFC
North:2 teams
South:2 teams
East:2 teams
West:1 team (tied with NFC North for fewest teams with script logo)

NFC
North:1 team
South:2 teams
East:3 teams (most in any division)
West:2 teams

Since this is probably my last post until Saturday, Happy Thanksgiving,
Tony

The Democratic Dinosaur
There is a very interesting piece in today's Washington Post about the Republicans recent Medicare victory. Putting aside the issue, the article examines what it means to both sides, politically. The point being that the Medicare victory was indicative of the Republicans unity and the Democrats dissonance. I've actually made reference to this in a slightly different way in the past. It's my belief that the Democratic party is at a disadvantage, at least legislatively, because their ranks are dominated by lawyers and the Republicans have more people from the private sector. Those buisness-minded Republicans are bottom-line and victory obsessed, whereas Democratic lawyers are usually more interested in protracted talks with little in the way of concrete yields (See Clinton, Hillary, & Lindsey, Bruce, i.e. Whitewater). They also seem to be, outside of the Christian Right, the more ideologically stubborn of the two. This prevents compromise, which is the key to being able to even share in contemporary American legislative victories.

Longtime party activist and strategist Harold Ickes, who worked for Clinton, sees this as the sorta start of a process where the wheels are coming off and the Democrats are facing being relegated into a permanent non-governing third party. After all, the AARP jumped ship and the Republicans were able to stake a claim to Medicare, perhaps the biggest (with the possible exception of Social Security) issue the Dems had. I'd like to see them use this as an opportunity to shake up the party and reach out to dissafected young voters, conceding the elderly to the Republicans and focusing on other voters. But old people are such a crucial voting bloc, and young people are so unreliable when it comes to voting, that this is unlikely to occur. What will probably happen is the Democrats will continue to compete for the same voters, and will do so on issues which the Republicans will now have the upper hand. A gloomy future for the party of Jackson indeed.

Not to totally bum you out, but there's bad news in the area of microchips being imbedded into human beings.

Tony

Are you ready for some Turducken?
I've got a couple of quick links and then some very exciting news regarding this Thursday's NFL games. First, however, I direct you once again to Norman Chad's ruminations about the BCS. Next, Dana Milbank has an interesting column comparing Bush to Nixon, at least stylistically. I think her comparisions are a little weak, for example saying that Bush is similiar to Nixon because both focus on White House staff, rather than cabinent officials, in terms of centralizing power throughout the administation. Nixon destroyed the cabinent-based form of government, and every President since Nixon has centralized power in the White House. This is not unique to Bush.

Now for the interesting stuff. This year's Thanksgiving games will once again be throwback games. The Pack will wear Lombardi-era threads, while the Lions will once again throw-back to the thirties. The Cowboys will wear the 1960-inspired blue jersey with white stars on the sleaves, and the Dolphins will go with their 70's white duds.

NFL.com has throwback logos for almost every team up on their site for the week. And, check this article from Packers.com for a detailed description of how the throwbacks different from the contemporary unis.

Happy Throwback Jersey Day, everybody!
Tony

The joys of Living in Beirut, er Baltimore
Well, what place this world is. As you all know, I live in Charles Village, one of the Islands of humanity in this cess city. There are places like this all over the city, tiny enclaves of white people, and upper middle class homesteaders, and businesses that don't sell cigarettes by the single, or lake trout (fried carp), and some (few) of the 70% of the population that is lucky enough to not live somewhere where shootings are just a soundtrack to the evening. Anyway.

So, I'm walking over to the coffee place after my training session at the Rocky Run (see previous posts, this place does belong in a mall, but, anyway)and I see all kinds of cop cars, and ambulances, and the ubiquitous JHU police hanging around outside of the building that the coffee place is in. I turn to go into the door and I see emt's and cops and plain clothes cops (detectives, I guess, you know like Lenny Briscoe) and a woman on a stretcher with blood all over her face and her head in a bandage.

I get inside and inquire to my regular coffee bringer what happened. Turns out, some stupidly desparate person held up the blimpie in the same building and on his way out decided to wack this woman with his gun. She was just in the hallway on the phone. Some shit. I mean, first, to go into this gigantic Hopkins-esque complex and fucking rob a blimpie (with a gun) at 7 in the evening...just not what you would expect. It's like, because this neighborhood lulls you into thinking that you're safe. That somehow those imaginary neighborhood boundries mean something to scumbags...just a wake up call. And I thought the worst part was living with the rats in the alley.

On a completely different note, I like gin. It crucified me last night, and it was good.

F. Scott Draper